This past week, the Danvers school committee has been asked to address concerns regarding the award-winning book All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Keily, taught in Holton Richmond Middle School eighth grade classrooms, due to its somewhat explicit and inflammatory content.
All American Boys is a young adult novel that looks at a specific instance of police brutality from the perspectives of high school students, specifically one black student and one white student.
Although this book has been taught at the middle school for several years, the controversy was sparked this fall by a lesson plan which asked students to reflect on “White Privilege” at the beginning of the unit.
As a result, some parents requested that their students not have to read the book, and be allowed to read an alternative title, instead.
During October’s school committee meeting, Danvers resident and middle school parent Guy Norio addressed the book’s controversies, stating that “this book with over 200 swear words has been chosen to teach in our schools.” He further went on to say, “There’s some other language there too… glorifying underage binge drinking, shotgunning 10 beers.”
ELA teacher Ms. Sarah Stone, flanked by approximately twenty other Danvers educators, stood and addressed concerns around the book by reading a letter, written on behalf of the Danvers Teachers Association, discussing the merits of teaching the book. Her letter also talked about the duty of educators to uphold academic freedom and critical thinking in the Danvers school system.
The letter, signed by 100 Danvers educators, included a quote by one of the book’s authors, Jason Reynolds, “Specifically, for a lot of us, it doesn’t always feel like you’re banning the book itself. Sometimes it feels like you’re banning the people those books are about.”
“According to The Boston Globe, Gabe Lopes, a school committee member, said books like “All American Boys” are not dangerous or propaganda, but the use of the term “white-privilege” in the student’s curriculum is divisive when discussing social justice.”
